Palaeocampa

Palaeocampa (Greek for 'ancient caterpillar') is a genus of aysheaiid lobopodian panarthropods known from the Carboniferous-age Mazon Creek fossil beds and Montceau-les-Mines lagerstätte. The genus contains a single species, Palaeocampa anthrax, which takes its specific name from anthrax (ἄνθραξ), the Greek word for coal, as its fossils were found near coal deposits in Illinois. This genus was first described as a caterpillar, before being redescribed as a fireworm in 2004, and then redescribed again as a lobopodian in 2025. Palaeocampa is extremely unusual for a lobopodian in a variety of ways, being the first and currently only known freshwater lobopodian outside of tardigrades, the first venomous lobopodian, alongside being the only known aysheaiid to possess sclerite armature.